Personally, I'd take a rifle over anything else. that being said, what are ya'lls regulation? Shotgun only or are rifles allowed? Close in shots(inside of 100 yds) or are ya hunting fields or power lines?

If I can use a rifle, that is what I'd chose. Here in IN, we will have a choice during Firearms Season this year of using a shotgun, certain pistols, 50cal muzzleloaders or for the first time, rifles with large caliber pistol cartridges like the 357Mag, 41 Mag, 44 Mag, 44 Russian, etc.

I have had exellent results with my Browning A-Bolt 12ga. It is dedicated slug gun with a full rifled barrel and a good scope. This type of gun will take deer out to 100 yards and beyond, if you care to shoot that far. Most of our deer are taken within 30 yards, though. I have also used my 28brX4" Purdey SxS rifle on deer. It shoots a round ball from an all brass case and is sort of like a rifle/shotgun mix.

_________________CAUTION: Things may appear closer in the rear view mirror!

Hello gentlemen, This is my first post on this website! I am 71 yrs old, and have hunted all my life since before I can remember with my father, and grand father, and on my own since the age of six yrs, when I got my first rifle, a Mod 67 Winchester single shot .22Lr for my sixth birthday. Since then, I have hunted on four contenents, and for everything from sparrows, to my largest a 28" tusked Hippo.

To answer your question right off,I own several shotguns, and combos, but limit them to mostly hunting birds!

If a rifle is legal, then a rifle I use for any big game! IMO, it is simply a better choice for large animals, and far more percise in it's placement of a bullet than a slug, at longer range, and better at sliding through a small hole in the cover to get to the vitals of a large animal.

I do have several cape guns (side by side shotgun/rifle combos) that I use durring a big game season, where birds are in season as well. My favorite of these is a little H. Berella side lock hammer cape gun, With a 16 ga barrel on the left, and a 8X57JR rifle barrel on the right. This little cape gun will place a Brenneke slug right beside the rifle's bullet hole @ 100 yds, and will print a 30" circle pattern at 30 yds, with 7 1/2 shot for dove, and No6 shot for blue quail. The rifle barrel has a set trigger, and will shoot 3 shot, 1" groups with 196 gr rn soft points @ 100yds. Of course the cape gun or any other combo gun would be illegal where it is shotgun only. Again, IMO, if there are so many people in the woods that one must use a shotgun to hunt deer, you need to find a better place to hunt deer!

I too opt for the rifle, but if regulations say I cannot I would go with an inline muzzleloader. Nine times out of ten you are only going to get one shot anyways, and it has been a lot easier for me to find an accurate load out to 200 yards with a muzzloader than with a shotgun.

In Illinois we do not have a choice we have to use a shotgun and slugs and I have killed a lot of deer with one but you are restricted on how far you can shoot because of the shotgun's limitations.
I have hunted deer in Missouri where you can use a rifle. I have a Ruger MK II in .270 with a Leupold scope and it is a dream to deer hunt with and the range is greatly extended.
So given a preference I would choose the rifle but like I said here in Illinois I have to use the shotgun and I kill my share with it.

Getting close to the game is as much fun as eating it. If you cant do a creep in the woods without spooking the game, its not hunting. Plus, if I shot a deer at 150+ yards, thats just longer I have to drag the thing (unless it runs toward me )

I too will almost always use a rifle. My dad said he may want to go deer hunting where I went the last few years, and that he'd like me to take his shotgun down to the range to check the POI with slugs. I've now got three (3) suitable rifles (a Remington 740, in .30-06, a Ruger 77 in .243 Win, and a Mosin Nagant M38 that I've got soft point rounds and a scope for) Of all those, he wants to take his 870, set up for quail shooting (26" IC barrel, single bead at the end), over the rifles. I'm taking the Mosin, and I'll take the .243 in case I get put on an open stand where a 200 yard shot is possible.

BT

_________________I don't get to hunt enough to waste my time with malfunctioning shotguns. Shoot Remington!Liberals:People so open minded their brains fell out.Why settle for less than the best? Vote Republican!

I would chose a rifle, but I have never really needed one. I've shot 9 different deer, and all of them have been within 40 yards. I have taken all of these deer in PA, and love to hunt deer there. I once shot a doe with a 300 win mag directly under the stand I was hunting in. The bullet was going so fast, it didn't even expand. The deer died, but it was a painful death. I may as well have been using a full metal jacket bullet. Sometimes rifles are too much is all I'm saying. Sometimes with deer smaller is better. Any deer I took in PA could have been taken with a slug, in fact the first one was with a 20g winchester 1200.
Hunting deer isn't like going on a safari. In PA they even let you use an atlatyl during bow (primative weapons) season for a while.

im highjacking this thread. i currently have a 12 ga. mossberg 500, it has a 20 inch barrel. i bought for home defense. i've started skeet/clay shooting and im a bit disappointed that i can't use my mossberg, minium is 24 inch. anyways i was thinking of swapping my barrels to something longer so i can skeet/clay and also maybe use it for hunting.

so my question is this, what is a good length barrel for all purpose use (hunt and skeet). im thinking of picking up a pistol grip short barrel shotgun for home defense. i bought a 10 gun safe so any excuse to fill it up is a good thing

Here in ND I like the rifle because there is not much cover and most deer hunting is done out in fields. That being said, when I have a nice plot of trees to sit in, I like to get close and even use a bow.